I am retired and have been doing a lot of hiking with my dog Kelley. Kelley has done all the peaks in Acadia National Park as well as those in Camden and the Donnell Pond and Monteville area. We have also done Big and Little Moose, Petit Manan and the Cutler Coast. We hope that other hikers will share hikes they have enjoyed.

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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

8/6/12 City Forest w/ Deer Fly for Julie

Still warm and humid and the garden work is falling behind so it's nearby City Forest. We did our usual start from the end of Kittredge Rd. so Kelley would have two opportunities at the pond. The deer flies were fairly numerous but did not seem to be biting Kelley, just flying around us - this is annoying to me but didn't seem to bother her so we wandered for two hours and even did some trails we had not done before. For the first time in all of our visits we did not meet a single person- perhaps the combination of heat and deer flies?

Some of the things we saw

Deer fly for Julie - not very sharp but these suckers do not stay still- first time I tried to photograph one.

Hi John...Much nicer day today weather wise, but the deer flies still bite : }!I love the color blue of the chicory plant it used to grow near by, but is now gone!!Very nice set of photos from your hike, especially like the Jewel weed blossom, and they are fun to pop the seed heads too : }!!The Viceroy is often mistaking for the Monarch...I have learned to tell the differences!Heat and deerflies would keep me away!!Grace

Hi Grace- thanks for commenting- is Jewel weed the one that looks a little like a snap dragon? When I was a child in Michigan there was a plant that roasted chicory root for adding to coffee. I still remember the smell.

John...yes..the last one is Jewel weed or some call it Touch-Me-Not!! Was great fun when I was a kid (well still is today for me)to touch that fat seed head and having it pop open and curl...it still makes me squeal and jump like it did back then! : }I vaguely remember hearing something about coffee and chicory root before!Grace

Kelley

Kelley was purchased along with two cats to be companions in a nursing home my wife owned. It became evident that she had a problem with her back legs and had pain. The vet said she had arthritis and she needed to lose weight and get lots of exercise so she came home and we gradually began hiking and put her on a diet. She improved to the point that she had no more pain and had an almost normal gait. When Mary left us we dealt with it by doing even more hiking and immersing ourselves in nature. Kelley did all of the peaks at Acadia as well as most others within a couple of hours of home. And I lost about 20 pounds. She loves to hike and will go as long as I will.

Kelley Update

A bit about how Kelley has been doing. You may be wondering why we are doing shorter and less strenuous hikes. In the story about Kelley above I indicate that the problem with her legs had pretty much been resolved. At the end of August last year I broke my ankle coming down from Dorr Mtn. and was not able to hike for 3 months and then we had a hard winter. This spring Kelley had a return of the arthritis problem in her back legs. She had to go back on medication and we could do little serious hiking. I think she lost some of the strength the vet thought was compensating for her problem. We have been building up the length of our hikes and Kelley is doing better and her medications have been cut way back. I am optimistic at this point that we will get back to the level we had reached before I broke my ankle.

Kelley Update II

Kelley has had a mixture of good days and not so good but overall is doing better. Today ( 10/17) we did a strenuous hike and she was happy and energetic and seems to have tolerated it well, showing no lameness when we got home. I continue to be optimistic - she loves the hiking so much.

Kelley Update 12/31/11

Kelley is doing well, hardly ever exhibits lameness or needs pain medication. She has been very excited the few times we got snow as she really loves to run in it. She seems also to have no problem with cold and is eager to be out in the woods whatever the weather.

1/24/12

Kelley continues to do well with slightly increased mileage. She seems better the more we do.

8/8/15 Update

It's been quite awhile between updates. Kelley is now 8 years old and does not seem to have the limberness she had achieved or the endurance. Occassionaly she lets me know she doesn't want to hike and we have a day off. We have also cut down the time per hike and I have been trying different times and hikes to find the best hikes/time so that she gets her needed exercise but doesn't overdo it. I wish she could talk. We still get out most days and right now an hour and a half seems about right but it's a continuing process.